Neighbors' lawsuit opposes Albany homeless site

Planned homeless site spurs some concerns in West Hill

By Jordan Carleo-Evangelist

Published 9:23 pm, Thursday, July 25, 2013

Albany

Four West Hill residents — including the wife of a county legislator — are suing to block the city from allowing Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless to open a drop-in center in the former St. Casimir's School on Sheridan Avenue.

The suit was lodged Wednesday against Interfaith Partnership and the city Board of Zoning Appeals, which approved the project at 315 Sheridan Ave. by a 4-1 vote in June.

Among the four plaintiffs in the lawsuit is Joyce Love, who lives on the block between Lexington Avenue and Henry Johnson Boulevard with her husband, 2nd District County Legislator Merton Simpson. Love and Simpson have rallied with other residents against the project, citing, among other things, safety concerns about sex offenders who might be attracted to use the facility.

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The suit charges the BZA failed to properly consider all the factors necessary to determine how the project will impact the neighborhood and that Interfaith Partnership also failed to properly document how not receiving the zoning use variance would amount to a financial hardship.

The plaintiffs — who also include Sheridan Avenue residents George Overstreet, Lisa McKern and Paul Bleckman — also alleged the nonprofit's application was flawed in number of technical ways, such as not answering a question about whether the project is within 500 feet of state or county land, including roads.

Interfaith's plans call for moving its existing South Swan Street drop-in center about a half-mile further east to the former Catholic school to offer a dining room to provide one midafternoon hot meal daily, space for a food pantry, laundry facility, housing and health counseling and — at some point — as many as five apartments in former classrooms on the second floor.

Overstreet, who has owned his home across from St. Casimir's since 2007, said he worries about the influx of foot traffic from people not from the neighborhood, parking and crime.

"You're talking about having a public kitchen that will be feeding approximately 90 to 100 people during a day," Overstreet said. "For any other agency to say that would have no adverse affect on the surrounding homeowners' quality of life, that's absurd."

Inferfaith Partnership also runs a homeless shelter and apartments for the chronically homeless further down Sheridan Avenue.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Eric Sugar said the city had just received the lawsuit Thursday and was still reviewing it.

Janine Robitaille, executive director of Inferfaith Partnership, also declined to comment on the substance of the suit other than saying that the group had tried to work with neighbors to address any concerns.

"We have tried to meet with them, and we just met with opposition," Robitaille said, adding that the current drop-in center has become a de facto neighborhood hub. "It's turned into a community center where it is now. Fifty percent of the people that come there are from the neighborhood, they're housed, they're not homeless. We're just looking for a bigger place for them to be."